In terms of when the line was hitting all the right notes, either 1984 or 1985.

In terms of when I was personally enjoying it the most...probably 1986.

my year is 1987
that's when i saw tunnelrat, one of my personal fav. and battelforce 2000. thats the team that stared it all for up comming joe teams..knockdown was also one of my personal fav,, too :D

Oh man... I'm going senile. Uhmmmmm... I think my fave year is 1987 cuz Falcon & Tunnel Rat are my top faves. With Repeater and Muskrat behind 'em. And then Torpedo & Tripewire. Must have a thing for guys who start with T. Like my Thomas baby! hee hee

Oh man, '85 followed closely by '86 and '84.

I wish I had a time machine, lol.

1985
 

I have to agree with everyone else here. By 1985 Hasbro and beefed up the molds and improved the sculpting over the 1982-1983 stuff. The characters were all reality / military based enough to be believable. Cobra command structure had been developed and the troops weren't ridiculously specialized yet. After 1985 stuff slowly started to unravel. 1986 was a great year, but Serpentor should never have been introduced. We simply shouldn't have gone down that road. And 1986 was the first year neon colors were introduced. Also a road that should never have been traveled.

i don't think Serpentor had any thing to do with it,it was more base on the movie, that started the grap that almost destroy the Joe's, beside the Sgt, need to fight someone to his level. as far as the neon colors well some one at Hasbro ,must saw the wrong kinda light, :D

well 86 DEFINITLY my all time favorites roadblock v2, mainframe , leatherneck , wet suit , low light , beach head , the best year...

Personally, 97-98
I wouldn't mind army building & just getting all the figs & vehicles in multiples
released those years, and I'd be happy.

2002 is a very close second, it had a very very decent Serpentor,
Shock Viper, the Twins, the Crimson Strike Team from the Convention etc
with the obvious exception of the T-Crotch release figures that year :mad:

2000 & 2001 were very nice years with all the ARAH Collectors Series